Former Vice President Joe Biden surprised a 17-year-old teenager fighting leukemia on Tuesday, placing a video call and offering her words of encouragement.
Biden spoke with Cierra Shaffer, a senior at Fruitland High School, via FaceTime after nurses at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho, wrote to the Biden Foundation inviting the former vice president to attend Shaffer’s high school graduation, according to CNN.
A spokesman for the former vice president said he wouldn’t be able to make it to Iowa in May, when she graduates from high school, but would be happy to FaceTime with Shaffer.
On Tuesday, Shaffer’s teacher and nurses wearing Biden masks arrived in her hospital room and gave Shaffer a phone with Biden on the line.
“You’re going to beat this thing because you’ve got to come see me in Washington. We’ve got to show you around,” Biden told Shaffer during the video call. “Then you’ve got to invite me back to Idaho, one of the most beautiful states in America.”
Shaffer and Biden spoke for roughly 15 minutes, and the 17-year-old enjoyed a cone filled with mint chocolate chip ice cream during the chat, a nod to Biden’s famous love of ice cream.
“Joe Biden’s my favorite vice president in the whole entire world,” Shaffer said before the call. “He loves ice cream, he’s a man’s man, he does all this cancer initiative stuff — which I didn’t care about until I got cancer, so hey.”
Biden also tweeted encouraging words to Shaffer and praised her nurses at St. Luke’s.
“Cierra, you remembered the most important thing I had to say. You will beat this. And as I’ve always said, if there are any angels in heaven, they are nurses. You’ve got a great team of them there making sure you stay,” Biden tweeted Tuesday.
Cierra, you remembered the most important thing I had to say. You will beat this.
And as I’ve always said, if there are any angels in heaven, they are nurses. You’ve got a great team of them there making sure you stay #cierrastrong. https://t.co/6q8DPaBpXF
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 28, 2018
